The farm system shows improvement in rankings.
Anne Rogers has her latest roster projection.
If Bubic is in the rotation, it doesn’t mean that Lynch is automatically starting in Triple-A, because the club feels good about its depth there. Lynch embraced helping the Royals in a relief role at the end of last year, throwing 20 2/3 scoreless innings. Plus, he would give the Royals another multi-inning arm along with Stratton.
But would the Royals rather have Carlos Hernández on the team to start the year? The 27-year-old righty is out of options and another team would take a chance on him because of his 100-mph fastball. Hernández has gotten opportunities this spring, but he’s allowed six runs in seven Cactus League innings. The Royals have to decide if Hernández has shown enough to earn another chance in the big leagues.
The Royals send some players to minor league camp including Tyler Gentry and Noah Cameron.
It’s a matter of when, not if, Cameron makes his debut for Kansas City this season.
“He was really impressive, first and foremost,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “His poise, delivery, stuff, command, all those things were outstanding. He could not have had a better camp. Fortunately for us right now, with pitchers being healthy and guys that are established big leaguers, he’s going to have to wait his turn, so to speak.
MLB Pipeline ranks the Royals’ farm system #23 in baseball.
Caglianone will be one of the most closely followed prospects in 2025 as he transitions to full-time hitter status, and Mitchell and Jensen are two intriguing entrants in the derby to be Salvador Perez’s future replacement behind the dish in Kansas City. The Royals have also enjoyed breakouts from Top 10 prospects Noah Cameron and Steven Zobac to breathe life into their pitching pipeline. But outside those top three, there aren’t many prospects who look like surefire starting position players or much beyond the No. 4 spot in future MLB rotations.
Kiley McDaniel at ESPN has a breakout candidate for each team. [$]
Kansas City Royals: Kris Bubic, LHP
Bubic was really good in 27 relief outings last season with a tweaked arsenal and is slated to open this season as the fifth starter. He used to rely on his changeup but the velocity/shape of his fastball and a newly sweeping slider give him enough raw stuff to turn over a lineup.
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